Long-term staff thanked at warehouse opening

Ford management took the time to acknowledge their hard-working parts warehouse staff at an event yesterday to open their new facility in Auckland’s Highbrook.

The new National Parts Distribution Centre is equipped with an all new storage system aligned to Ford’s Global Warehousing principles, providing optimisation to support wider stock holdings in New Zealand, and improved parts flow within the operation.

Ford expects this operation to deliver significant gains to supply fill rates and faster replenishment for the Dealer network.

Corey Holter, managing director Ford New Zealand, said the new building is a significant long-term investment to support Ford’s expanding vehicle range but also has the Ford customer in mind.

“The new National Parts Distribution Centre is a big step forward to support better our growth objectives, help us better service our dealers, and ultimately help improve the Ford customer experience at our service centres.” says Holter.

“With better access, more storage capacity and upgraded equipment, the first major part of our local supply chain has been greatly improved and we will be able to get parts to our customers more efficiently and with less waiting.”

The old facility, on the same site as the long-closed assembly plant in Wiri, had been used by Ford for 50 years.

Hotter also acknowledge the management of the parts facility for their work on the transition.

President and chief executive if Ford Australia and New Zealand Graeme Whickman – who has spent part of his career at Ford New Zealand – noted the facility served up to 2000 dealer staff, shipping 2500 parts a day.

He noted the length of service in the warehouse.

“The average length of service in the warehouse is 23 years,” Whickman explained. “And we have five people over 30 years, and three over 40 years.”

“It is pretty impressive – congratulations to you, and thank you for your service to the brand.”

Also at the launch was John Cooper, Ford vice president customer service Asia Pacific, and property-developer Goodman chief executive, John Dakin.